Andy Feinstein, the new president of the University of Northern Colorado, answers questions from the audience after giving his first State of the University address in this Tribune file photo. (Emily Wenger/ewenger@greeleytribune.com)

University of Northern Colorado president Andy Feinstein knows that if the school is going to succeed in athletics at a high level, it will have to address several issues, most notably the amount of commitment.

“Something has to be done about whether or not, you know, ‘Are we all in?'” Feinstein asked as he spoke to the Greeley Centennial Rotary Club on Thursday at the Greeley Country Club and fielded some questions from the audience.

UNC, considered a mid-major competitor, competes at the top Division I level in every sport except football, where the Bears are a Division I-Football Championship Series member.

Without getting too specific, Feinstein said some elements of success relate to better facilities in order to upgrade recruiting, and coaches salaries, to which he stated “we don’t pay our coaches a lot of money.”

UNC head football coach Earnest Collins Jr. is the highest paid coach on staff with an annual salary of $151,875.

Feinstein said he’s currently working on finding resources to build a new weight room, comparing UNC’s to new state-of-the-art facilites at the University of Montana and Southern Utah University.

The plan to build a new weight room has been on UNC’s agenda for quite some time.

Nonetheless, Feinstein is a huge supporter of athletics.

Feinstein traveled to UNC’s away football games this season and has a front-row seat at Bank of Colorado Arena for the basketball games, wrestling and volleyball matches.

When asked about the Bears’ recent struggles in football, Feinstein conceded “we had a tough football season here.”

UNC head coach Earnest Collins Jr. (Tribune file photo) .

The Bears labored to a 2-9 record this season, and head coach Earnest Collins Jr. has a 25-62 overall record in eight seasons as the Bears’ coach. He’s 33-74 in 10 seasons as a college head coach, including two seasons at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss.

The Bears were 3-7 in 2017, coming off back-to-back 6-5 seasons in 2015 and 2016, and were in contention for the NCAA FCS playoffs.

Sixteen UNC football players were named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team this season. The team’s grade-point average was a program-best 2.94 as compared to 2.8 for all FCS schools in the latest statistics released.

The UNC football team had a program-best graduation success rate of 84 percent and led the FCS with 12 student-athletes who have completed their bachelor’s degree and were working toward a second degree.

After the 2018 season, UNC athletic director Darren Dunn gave Collins a vote of confidence, citing his ability to “provide opportunities, a place for growth and social enrichment, mentorship and educational development.”

Feinstein is well aware of the Bears’ success off the field in all sports, but particularly football.

“Our student-athletes are outstanding in our football program,” Feinstein said. “That’s important to me.”

While mentioning the recent run of success of UNC’s men’s and women’s basketball programs, which he called “incredible,” Feinstein talked about the wrestling program recently signing the No. 1 recruit in the nation in Greeley Central’s Andrew Alirez and the women’s soccer team winning the BSC regular-season title.

Talking about BSC opponents, Feinstein said “We’re gonna beat them in the classroom, and we’re gonna beat them on the field.”

Feinstein said he’s confident the Bears will have a successful 2019 football season. The Bears open up with a nonconference game at San Jose State University, where Feinstein was the vice president of academic affairs before coming to UNC.

“I’m keeping a close eye on the (UNC) football team, and coach Collins knows that,” Feinstein said.